Bullying Experiences among Indian Adolescents Studying in India and Canada: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The issue of bullying during adolescence is well-recognized all over the world. Another important facet during this phase is the immigration of adolescents to foreign countries to explore educational options. With a large number of Indian adolescents migrating to Canada over the past few decades, the present study was an attempt to understand whether the experiences of immigrant Indian adolescents in Canada are same as of Indian adolescents studying in India. For this purpose, a sample comprising of 100 adolescents (16-22 years), 50 immigrant Indian adolescents in Canada and 50 living in India was selected. The tools used for data collection were Illinois Bully Scale (Espelage and Holt, 2001), Rosenberg SelfEsteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and Psychological Well-Being Scale (Ryff, 1989). The data was analyzed using t-ratio and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The results reveal that adolescents studying in India are more involved in bullying perpetration and experience more bullying victimization as compared to Immigrant Indian adolescents studying in Canada. There was a significant negative relationship between bullying perpetration and self-esteem; and bullying victimization and psychological well-being in the adolescents studying in India. The results are further discussed based on the findings.